It’s a perfect 10 from Carewatch boss and staff

A COMPANY boss has celebrated 10 years in business by paying tribute to her dedicated staff.

Hartlepool firm Carewatch started out in The Arches, in Park Road, in 2001.

Owner Anne Doughty has since expanded the business to Millpool Close and now to its current base in Church Street, where the workforce consists of 99 carers and 10 office staff.

Anne said: “We have got people who have been with us for 10 years and others who have been here for seven or five. I want to thank them all.

“It can be a difficult job in bad weather and in sometimes unsociable hours, but they all do a really good job and I thank them for that.”

Carewatch is a domiciliary care provider which offers services such as shopping, sitting in with clients, giving carers a break, bathing, meal preparation and shop calls.

“We cover the whole spectrum of care,” said Anne who runs the Hartlepool business as a franchise.

Its work covers both private care and a contract with Hartlepool Borough Council.

Anne, who had previously worked as a manager in a residential home in Hartlepool, said: “I enjoy doing care and helping people to live independently. I felt that there was a market for going into domiciliary care. I set this up from scratch as a franchise.

We moved out of the Arches when we grew and then we had to move out of Millpool Close when we outgrew that as well.”

The current Carewatch base, in Church Street, has facilities which include training rooms and offices for managers, supervisors and co-ordinators.

Anne said: “We hope to continue serving the people of Hartlepool as best we can.”

She said expansion was a possibility and added: “We will be going out and looking for some more private service users.”